Breaking from the Dark
by Xelskyr
Summary: I always wondered what happened after Cloud and Sephiroth disappeared from Radiant Garden. Thus this one-shot was born. This is my take on the ensuing battle. R&R please.


Breaking from the Dark

Breaking from the Dark

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Cloud, Sephiroth, Kingdom hearts or Final Fantasy. The only thing I own is the battle itself.

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When the light finally faded, everything around Cloud looked different. The sky was darker, and the air was thick with the taste of smog. The wind was much faster, and the bluish land of Hollow Bastion was gone, replaced with the sight of a city below. He recognized it as his home…Midgar.

He looked around; he was atop one of the three central towers near the center of the city, the tallest buildings in the city. In the center, between the three towers, floated Sephiroth, his Masamune pointed towards the blond swordsman. His silver hair flew freely in the whipping wind, his eyes locked on Cloud, and a serious look on his face. His black wing twitched in anticipation. Cloud always found it a bit of a paradox that someone so dark and evil would have a wing reminiscent of a being so pure and good. That wasn't the issue at the moment though; he was more focused on just defeating him than trying to understand his history.

"This is absurd Cloud, you know defeating me is only a temporary solution; that I'll only return again more powerful than before," he taunted.

"Are you going to talk all day, or are you going to fight," he said stubbornly, hefting the bandaged First Tsurugi.

Sephiroth entered his battle stance. "Hmph, you'll never understand, and you'll never let go. If another battle is what you want, then I will gladly oblige."

Cloud quickly leaped forward at his silvered haired nemesis, and swung his broadsword. A series of lightning fast slashes and thrusts were nothing more than a blink of an eye to the average person, but to Cloud, it was a long and hard fought battle. It was like an aerial dance; flips, parries, counters, and strikes passed by in fractions of seconds. The sparks of their blades clashing lit up the dim sky, appearing like a small light show to those on the ground.

When the display of speed was finally over, Cloud and Sephiroth landed on separate towers, then quickly pushed of and struck each other with a glancing blow. The same actions continued; they would each push off one of the three towers and strike each others blades with small blows while slowly working their way down to the ground. Neither of them had gained any sort of headway by the time they reached the base of the three towers.

After landing, it was followed by another series of lightning quick slashes and parries. More sparks splashed onto the ground, more clanks of metal colliding with metal echoed down to the city streets. While they were battling though, Sephiroths words were ringing in his ears.

_'The light doesn't suit you.'_

He parried another strike and struck back with one of his own, which was respectively blocked by Sephiroths slim sword.

'_Defeating me is pointless. You know that better than anyone.'_

He was pushed back further and further, he was closing in on the edge. He wasn't looking forward to having to jump; heights weren't exactly his favorite thing in the world. Another strike, another parry, and another step back.

_'You'll never let go of your darkness. You'll never let go of your past'_

He was on more step away from the edge, he was out of room, and out of options. He did the only thing he could do; he jumped. The wind was stinging at his face as he plummeted downward, he would have to act fast to survive the fall.

He dug the Tsurugi into the wall next to him, slicing the metal as he continued to fall, slowly reducing in speed. When he finally stopped, Sephiroth was right behind him. He quickly rocked forward, using the Tsurugi like a stationary trapeze, dodging his downward slash, and landing atop his own blade. Jumping off and grasping the handle again, he rocked forward again and planted his feet on the wall, leaping forward and wrenching the sword from the metal. His and Sephiroths blades met in midair, still a hundred or so meters above the ground.

Cloud used his momentum to flip over the silver haired man. Sephiroth disappeared, and then reappeared above the blond, his sword held high. As he brought it down, Cloud stopped the sword with his boots, and pushed off the blade, intending to land on a particularly tall building nearby.

As his boots skidded against the hard concrete, then rolling a few times to reduce speed, Sephiroth used his superior speed to catch up with his enemy. Cloud brought up the Tsurugi up just in time, and held back the Masamune, but was being forced back to the edge of the building, even as the thick rubber of his boots dug into the rough stone. It seemed he was right back to square one.

"Are you ready to finally give into the dark Cloud?" he asked confidently.

Cloud just growled. "Burn in hell," he spat back.

"Pity," he said as he gave one final push and blew Cloud into the building across the street.

He stood up again, standing in a mess of broken glass, splintered wood and crumbled concrete. Sephiroth charged in through the gap in the wall the blond had created upon being thrown into the building. Cloud picked up the Tsurugi and deflected another slash from the man in front of him.

While Cloud was parrying and trying to hold his ground, more words were shooting through his mind.

_'Cloud, you can have my light.'_

His blade clashed with Sephiroths again, more sparks rained down, and the surrounding wood was catching fire. Soon the carpeting was blazing with orange and yellow flames, shadowing over parts of their faces, while other parts were basking in the glow of the fire.

_'Cloud, get him!'_

What was he doing? Was he really searching for his light like he told himself? No, there was no question, he wanted to be rid of the darkness; he wanted to be rid of _him._ It was just…no matter how many times he defeated him, he just kept coming back. How could he be rid of his darkness if it followed him wherever he went?

_'The darkness will be there Sephiroth, but in a place you can't reach!'_

Then it hit him; that was the answer.

He and Sephiroth now had their blades locked in the middle of a raging inferno. They were blocked in on all sides by flames; there was no jumping his way out of this one. At the moment though, he was too involved with his sudden epiphany to care.

"I think I get it, I think I understand" he said to himself.

He pushed Sephiroth back for a change, both of them taking their battle stances again.

"Did you hear me Sephiroth, I understand now!" he shouted.

"What do you understand?"

"I understand that I'll never be rid of my darkness, but I _can_ capture it, I can lock it up in a place where it can never escape!"

Sephiroth let out a small laughed. "Cloud, you and I both know that the light will never defeat the dark."

"Believe what you want, _Sephiroth, _but know that this time, you won't be coming back!" he said, a sudden wave of warm confidence taking him over.

He could feel the light, he could feel it overtaking the darkness within him. It felt like a huge weight lifted out of no where off his shoulders. He felt like he could move faster and attack harder than he ever could before. He could feel it, Sephiroth suddenly didn't seem so strong, no longer so unbeatable.

"This is your last battle, Sephiroth!"

"We'll see," he said calmly.

Cloud leaped at him again, pushing him through the flames and out of the building. Cloud was right along with him, relentlessly hacking and slashing, pushing Sephiroth higher and higher into the air. For once, the one winged angel was on the defensive.

Clouds movements were growing faster and faster, and the aura of light was growing brighter. Sephiroth was laboring more to parry or dodge all of the blonds attacks, and a few glancing blows made their way through his defense. They were now slowly fighting their way back up one of the central towers.

At the top, Sephiroth was breathing heavily, but Cloud seemed to have only gained strength on the way up. Cloud jumped forward, and before Sephiroth could do anything to counter, he had cut through the silver haired mans wing. Blood covered feathers now flew in every direction; and Sephiroth was weakened to the point of no recovery.

Cloud, taking the opening in a heartbeat, turned about and attacked again. Cloud drove his already blood splattered sword through the chest of the black clad man, piercing his heart and various other organs and bones. More blood dripped out of his mouth, and he dropped his blade, which clattered its way down the several hundred feet drop of the central towers.

"You lose Sephiroth," he said victoriously.

"My defeat is meaningless, I'll return again, you that as well as I do," he said as he started to fade away into darkness.

"You can't run from the darkness forever, someday, it _will _take you."

With that, he was gone; the only remainder of his presence was the dozens of black feathers floating around him, lazily falling down to the ground.

Cloud looked up to the sky; the clouds were clearing and the sun was shining through just a little. Enough to lightly kiss his face with light, like the sun was telling him everything was going to be alright.

"No Sephiroth, I don't think it will. This time, your nothing but a memory," he said to himself, a mouth curving into a small smile. More of the sun was now shining through, the cloudiness was breaking.

He was proud of himself, if only a little bit. After all, against all odds…he had broken away from the dark.

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**There ya go. I decided to take a break from working on the Fateful XIII and moved onto something different for a change. I hope i nailed it well enough, i think it came out pretty well. R&R please.  
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